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PODCAST

That Early Childhood Nerd

Explorations Early Learning

Each week host Heather Bernt-Santy and a member of the ECE Nerd Collective share and discuss a quote with a focus on effecting change in the early learning world.

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All Episodes

36:07

NERD_0392 The Hyper Focus on School Readiness with Dr...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/12/12

IMPORTANT REMINDER! After this episode, That Early Childhood Nerd will be published by Heather and the Early Childhood Nerdwork instead of Explorations Early Learning. If you have subscribed to the show on iTunes or Spotify, you’ll have to find the new feed for the show and resubscribe. Just search That Early Childhood Nerd, and find the new feed!Host Heather Bernt-Santy knew as soon as she read the Defending the Early Years blog post, “How Did Early Childhood Programs Become So Focused

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51:09

NERD_0391 Nurturing Brilliance with Sally Haughey

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/12/03

Author and educator Sally Haughey is here to discuss the incredible unfolding and blossoming that happens during play. Her new bookNurturing Brillianceprovides a science-based approach to understanding and sharing about the inherent brilliance of children’s growth and development.Find Sally’s book here:https://www.redleafpress.org/Nurturing-Brilliance-Using-Play-Activated-Learning-to-Awaken-Childrens-Potential-P3103.aspx More of Sally’s work:https://wunderled.com/about/ Have you

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1:00:24

NERD_0390 Self Active Play for the Grown Ups with...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/11/26

Carly Bedard, a play facilitator for adult early educators, joins host Heather Bernt-Santy to discuss the ways that self active play can transform early childhood practitioners’ practice with young children. Listen in as Heather shares the ways participating in one of Carly’s workshops at a recent teacher retreat reminded her of the importance of being an adult who plays in order to provide spaces and programming where children can play. Have you ordered Heather’s bookUsing Schema Play

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50:23

NERD_0389 The Child’s Right to Participation

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/11/19

Early childhood education researcher and advocate Emily Clark is back for another conversation with host Heather Bernt-Santy. In this episode, they talk about her work on children's rights in early childhood programs. Here's more from Emily: https://www.earlyedem.com/Have you ordered Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood yet? It's available now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org or you can order directly from the publisher on the Teachers

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55:07

NERD_0388 Developmental Cascades in Childhood

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/11/12

Join host Heather Bernt-Santy in a conversation with Dr. Zlata Stankovic-Ramirez, Dr. Danielle McLellan-Bujnak, and Dr. Josh Thompson about their work regarding the idea of developmental cascades. The work presents a potential shift in the language used to describe child development as they propose moving away from the traditional ages-and-stages framework and incorporating theconcept of developmental cascades.Have you ordered Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in

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54:05

NERD_0387 Play Pedagogy: The Antidote to GERM (Global...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/11/05

The book The Commodification of American Education: Persistent Threats and Paths Forward includers a powerful chapter written by Denisha Jones in which she writes, "To protect childhood, we must resist GERM and all its manifestations in early childhood education." In this episode, host Heather Bernt-Santy has a conversation with Denisha about what this means, why we need to do more than just resist, and the impacts for children if we do not take action. Have you ordered Heather's book Using Schema

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54:15

NERD_0386 If They Play, Am I Still a Teacher?

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/10/29

For a recent special issue of the early childhood magazine Exchange on protecting play, host Heather Bernt-Santy wrote an article addressing the often asked question, "If I just let children play, how am I still a teacher?" She talks more about this question with Sam Balch.FREE virtual Protecting Play conference: https://hub.exchangepress.com/shop/protecting-play/Have you ordered Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood yet? It's available on Amazon,

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40:55

NERD_0385 ECE Higher Ed-Preparation for What?

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/10/22

Every now and again, host and early childhood professor Heather Bernt-Santy has a little panic--what if by teaching current ideas, theories about good practice, and new research about working with young children, she's just setting students up to be frustrated or to get in trouble when they work in programs where they don't see what they're learning about in class? In this episode, she talks it through with fellow ECE professor Richard Cohen. Have you ordered Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory

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42:15

NERD_0384 Child Care for All: Author Elliot Haspel

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/10/15

Elliot Haspel's newest book, Raising a Nation: 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All makes a powerful case that ensuring child care for every family who wants or needs access benefits each of us. Listen to host Heather Bernt-Santy's conversation with Elliot about the way child care for all can support the values of those who believe in national security, family values, community, racial and gender equity and more.More about Elliot: https://elliothaspel.com/Have you ordered

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51:42

NERD_0383 Nap Times in Child Care Settings

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/10/08

NAEYC's Code of Ethical Conduct says, "Above all, we shall not harm children. We shallnot participate in practices that are emotionally damaging, physically harmful, disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, or intimidating to children."What does this have to do with nap time in child care settings? A whole lot, according to host Heather Bernt-Santy and her guests Kisa Marx, Tiffany, Pearsall, Lizz Nolasco and Carol Garboden Murray. Have you ordered Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory

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38:55

NERD_0382 Supporting Children’s Sense of Justice with...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/10/01

Author, educator and community organizer Dr. Megan Madison joins host Heather Bernt-Santy to talk about her First Conversations children's book series, children's developing sense of justice and fairness, book bans, and more. This conversation will leave you feeling determined and hopeful, as it did Heather. More about the book series, including downloadables and other guides, here: https://www.firstconversations.com/ Find Megan on instagram as @meganmadison Order Heather's book Using Schema Play

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1:01:37

NERD_0381 Free the Teachers! Calendar and Circle Times

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/09/24

It's time for the second installment of Free the Teachers! In this episode, Heather Bernt-Santy is joined by Richard Cohen, Carol Garboden Murray, Stacy Benge, and Tiffany Pearsall to talk through the ways we can be free of traditional calendar, circle, and other large group times and to share new ways of thinking about gathering with young children. Order Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory toAdvocate for Free Play in Early Childhood here:Teachers College Press:

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39:29

NERD_0380 Scrap Circle Time with Amy Reyes-Hauff

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/09/17

In this week's episode, host Heather Bernt-Santy interviews Amy Reyes-Hauff, Early Learning Specialist with the Wyoming Department of Education's school success divistion. They talk about traditional circle time practices in early childhood settings and Amy suggests that it's time to scrap circle time in favor of more developmentally informed practices....and PLAY!Amy is an advocate for outdoor learning and has integrated outdoor learning into over 200 classrooms across her home state of Wyoming

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57:55

NERD_0379 A New Way of Looking at Children’s War Play...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/09/10

Host Heather Bernt-Santy and fellow nerd Mike Huber talk with Ebba Theorell about her brilliant article, Transformative Aesthetic Dimensions in Young Boys' War Play:Exploring the World Through Kinesthetic Musicality, in which she discusses her research and thesis work examining war play through the lens of dance and choreography. Find her article here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/article/960063/pdfWant to order Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early

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53:35

NERD_0378 Free the Teachers! Tightly Controlled...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/09/03

Every now and then, host Heather Bernt-Santy and the other nerds in the TECN group chat hit on hot issues that we wish early childhood folks didn't have to worry about. We decided to do a few episodes on these topics, calling it the Free the Teachers! series. In this episode, we talk about how stressful tightly controlled daily schedules are for adults and for children, and discuss some alternatives. Want to order Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early

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56:29

NERD_0377 Slow Childhoods with Carol Garboden Murray...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/08/27

When host Heather Bernt-Santy talked with Amy Chiu (www.theworkofplay.com) on TECN episode 372, she knew she had to have a follow up conversation including Carol Garboden Murray (https://www.carolgarbodenmurray.com/). Join them all as they discuss the benefit of slowing down with children in our early childhood settings, including some great first-of-the-school-year practices that help build slow habits. Want to order Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory toAdvocate for Free Play in Early

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47:22

NERD_0376 Live from the 2025 Play Empowers Teacher...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/08/20

Live from the lobby of the Claggett Retreat Center, listen in as attendees and presenters debrief the day's events--what resonated, what challenged them, and dreams for what happens next. The Play Empowers Teacher Retreat is truly one of a kind. Because it was a live recording of a large group, the volume levels vary a bit from person to person--this may not be an ear bud episode!Thank you to Kisha Reid for bringing us all together!Want to order my book Using Schema Play Theory toAdvocate for Free

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43:13

NERD_0375 Trauma Informed Practices with Nikki...

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/08/13

Nikki Darling-Kuria joins host Heather Bernt-Santy to share her growth as a trauma informed early childhood professional in an unpredictable world. The quote to start this conversation is from Katherine Anne Porter, who said, "The past is never where you think you left it," meaning that events that we think are in the past and believe we should be "over" aren't ever over. Nikki shares thoughts and resources about moving through our work and our lives with trauma informed practices. For more

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1:01:57

NERD_0374 The Daycare Myth with Dan Wuori

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/08/06

For a century, America’s early childhood policy has been premised on a myth. This falsehood—which dictates that child care and education are somehow separate and distinct—not only suboptimizes the most important window into all human development, but costs American taxpayers an untold fortune. It’s time to think differently.Written in plain yet provocative language by one of the field’s most respected bipartisan policy experts, The Daycare Myth makes the case for why the early years matter; why

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1:05:04

NERD_0373 When Children are Free to Pretend

That Early Childhood Nerd ·

2025/07/30

Mike Huber is back to talk more about pretend play, children's power, and the teacher's liberation as we continue to discuss his new book The Power in Pretend: Supporting Children's Power, Identity and Agency. Mike shares a story of powerful pretend play that started with taking chairs outside so that children could clean them and ended with the children's own take on what happens when you go to church. So fun! And so powerful. Buy Mike's book

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